With the popular use of mobile devices (e.g., smart phones, cell phones, tablets, etc.), today's digital environment has profoundly changed: more and more people use mobile devices rather than web-based computers to quickly search, retrieve, view and share information with their friends and contacts in a global scale. Particularly, the proliferation of various mobile communication applications, such as SMS/Text, MMS, Instant Messaging (IM), iMessage, Blackberry Message, Samsung ChatOn, Facebook Message, Twitter, WhatsApp, Skype, WeChat, and so forth, allows people to contact and communicate with their friends and contacts at any time and from anywhere. When people text each other using any of these applications, it is customary practice to shorten certain words and/or use emotional icons or images in their messages. In fact, most of these applications provide built-in “emoticons” for users to choose and insert in their text messages, although the available “emoticons” might be limited depending on specific configurations of these applications.
In view of the ever-changing digital environment, many companies have increasingly adopted mobile devices and applications installed therein as another marketing and advertising platform, in addition to conventional media such as newspaper, billboards, TV, radio, online search engine (e.g., Google) and websites accessible through computers linked to the Internet. For example, companies may specially create a mobile version of their advertisements (e.g., commercial banners) to be displayed at the edge or in the corner of a smart phone screen upon activation of certain applications in mobile devices. However, unlike conventional media such as newspaper, billboards, TV and web pages, most mobile devices, such as iPhone and Android phones, have very limited display space for displaying advertisements. As a result, oftentimes people find those advertisements distractive and even offensive for blocking or interfering with their viewing of digital contents in mobile devices.
Therefore, a need exists for adverting and marketing companies' brands, products and services in the mobile platform in an easy, effective and non-intrusive manner. On the other hand, there is conceivable benefit for mobile device users if company logos can be used, displayed or otherwise incorporated seaminglessly in mobile communication applications, similar to “emoticons,” for immediate visual attention.